Last August, Google commissioned a first-of-its-kind research report from Deloitte Access Economics to take an in-depth look at how the Internet is rewiring Australia’s households and businesses in fundamental ways. “The Connected Continent” discovered that the Internet contributed $50 billion directly to the Australian economy in 2010 — the same as iron ore exports. In short, Australia’s digital economy is booming — and this is a boom that every Australian is a part of. Australian content is certainly booming on YouTube. A new class of Aussie artists and entrepreneurs is making high-quality videos that are racking up tens of millions of views across Australia and the world, and many of them are earning enough to quit their day jobs. Rob Nixon, for example, was once a ground crew worker at Perth airport; now he’s “Nicko the Chef” with a YouTube cooking channel with 37M views. Interestingly, Australia is running a trade surplus in online video. In 2011, overseas viewers watched more hours of Australian content on YouTube than Australians watched of overseas content. Unfortunately, there’s a real danger at the moment that unnecessary regulation — like that being sketched out in the Interim Report from the Convergence Review — could stop this thriving part of the digital economy in its tracks. We were surprised and disappointed to see this report moving toward the imposition of unwarranted and unworkable TV-style regulation on the online media sector. (You can read Google’s official comment here.)Long-standing government policy, re-articulated by the Convergence Review, aims for a media sector with diverse voices, lots of high-quality Australian content, and community standards for content. Simply put, we believe the web — and especially online video sites like YouTube — is already delivering this. The web has solved previous issues of media scarcity. This has traditionally been a key part of the justification for government regulation of media. On YouTube, anybody with a video camera (or a smartphone!) can start their own media channel, broadcast to massive audiences home and abroad, and through our YouTube Partner Program, turn their popular videos into a business. This is driving an explosion in Aussie content. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 40% of Australians with Internet access now create content online, from videos to blogs. The openness of the web is generating diversity in Australian voices. It’s even filling in the gaps left by traditional content providers. SportingPulse, in Melbourne, helps local sports leagues across the country get videos of their matches online where their most passionate fans can find them. Talent from diverse backgrounds is thriving on YouTube, from two Adelaide mates’ Encyclopedia of Magic to sister singers Janice and Sonia Lee. On the web there are no casting agents or producers deciding who gets on screen or what stories should be told, and this has resulted in an explosion of new faces and voices.Our most respected cultural institutions are embracing the web to reach Australia and the world.The Sydney Opera House can only fit so many people into its seats — but through the web, they reach the vast majority of us who can’t get to Bennelong Point on a regular basis. And Screen Australia’s Vault on YouTube breathes new life into heritage films that might otherwise be collecting dust. Many content creators have more content than they can broadcast, screen, or publish through traditional channels; platforms like YouTube are giving this content new life and new fans. This incredible online momentum is creating a new golden age of Australian content unparalleled in the quality, quantity, and great diversity of voices it represents. The last thing we want to see is unnecessary regulation squelching its growth. The web has flung open the doors of creative and economic success to all Australians, and we want to make sure those doors stay wide open.Posted by Iarla Flynn, Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs, Google Australia